The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum eBook

Right at the top of a little hill the cabbage got
away from them. Down it started, rolling and
bounding along, with Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare
frantically trying to catch it. Just ahead was
Johnny Chuck with a big bundle of sweet clover, which
he was bringing to Peter Rabbit’s party.
He didn’t see the big cabbage coming. It
knocked his feet from under him, and down he went
with a thump, flat on his back. Right on top
of him fell Jumper the Hare, who was close behind the
runaway cabbage and had no time to turn aside.
Over the two of them fell Peter Rabbit. Such
a mix-up!

And the big cabbage kept right on running away.
Jimmy Skunk, who never hurries, heard the noise behind
him and turned to see what it all meant. But
he didn’t have time to more than blink his eyes
before the runaway cabbage hit him full in the stomach.
Down went Jimmy Skunk with a grunt. One big egg
flew over against a tree and broke. Jimmy landed
on the other, and this broke, too.

Such a sight as Jimmy Skunk was! Egg dripped
from every part of his handsome black and white coat.
It was in his eyes and all over his face and dripped
from his whiskers. Shadow the Weasel and Reddy
Fox, hiding in the hollow log, laughed until the tears
rolled down their cheeks, though down in the heart
of Shadow was bitter disappointment, for he had planned
to steal those very eggs.

Just a little way beyond Jimmy Skunk the runaway cabbage
brought up with a thump against a stump on which sat
Striped Chipmunk, with the pockets in his cheeks filled
full of yellow corn. The sudden bump of the big
cabbage made Striped Chipmunk lose his balance, and
off he tumbled, right down on to old Mr. Toad, who
had just sat down behind the stump for a few minutes
of rest. It knocked all the wind out of Mr. Toad,
and of course Striped Chipmunk spilled all his corn.

Prickly Porky the Porcupine heard the noise.
He looked up to see a strange thing bounding down
the Lone Little Path. Prickly Porky didn’t
wait to see what it was. He did just what he always
does when he thinks there may be danger; he rolled
himself up with his face hidden in his waistcoat,
and when he did that, the thousand little spears hidden
in his coat stood out until he looked like a giant
chestnut burr.

The runaway cabbage bounced off the stump and hit
Prickly Porky. Then it stopped. Where it
had touched Prickly Porky, the sharp little spears
had stuck into it, so that when Peter Rabbit and Jumper
the Hare hurried up, there lay the runaway cabbage,
looking for all the world like a great green pincushion.

XI

REDDY FOX GOES HUNGRY

Like a great green pincushion lay the runaway cabbage
of Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare. Every one
thought it was the very best joke ever. Jimmy
Skunk had gone off to take a bath and get two more
eggs for Peter Rabbit’s party. Reddy Fox
and Shadow the Weasel, peeping out from the hollow
log where they were hiding, could see Jimmy on his
way back with a big goose egg under each arm.
Shadow smacked his lips. He meant to have those
eggs himself.